Family caregivers are the backbone of the American health care system with twenty-five percent of all households involved as family caregivers. Caregiving is a rigorous responsibility often resulting in burn out and feelings of being overwhelmed. Key individual skills and community resources can help caregivers keep their health, maintain their balance and sustain their work.
“Family Caregiving 2012†is an informal discussion about family caregiving and the resources, tools and skills that can help caregivers over the long term. The discussion will explore ways families construct caregiving responsibilities, how to handle the caregiver duties, the challenges most caregivers face and the resources available in Pierce County.
“Family caregivers do amazing work,†said Aaron Van Valkenburg, Manager of Pierce County Aging and Disability Resources. “People suffer chronic illnesses, have various disabilities and deal with long term conditions. Parents, spouses, children and other relatives step in to form an incredible web of support for their loved ones. It is essential that those caregivers remain healthy and stable so they can continue their work.â€
“Family Caregiving 2012†is an information-only event. It is free and open to the public and will be presented by staff of Pierce County Community Connections and the partners of the Aging and Disability Resource Center. The workshop will be repeated five times:
• Jan 9 – 12:10 – 12:50 p.m.
Pierce County Annex – Main Conference Room (2401 S. 35th Street, Tacoma)
• Jan 9 – 7:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Sound Vista Village (6633 McDonald Ave, Gig Harbor)
• Jan 11 – 12:10 – 12:50 p.m.
County-City Building – Rainier Conference Room – 7th Fl. (930 Tacoma Avenue, Tacoma)
• Jan 11 – 7:00 – 8:00 a.m.
Parkland/Spanaway Library Conference Room (13718 Pacific Ave S, Tacoma)
• Jan 14 – 10:30 – 11:30 a.m.
Sumner Library Conference Room (1116 Fryar Ave., Sumner)
For more information, call the Pierce County Aging & Disability Resource Center at (253) 798-4600 or (800) 562-0332.
Many people put off making gifts until the end of the year. If you want to make a charitable gift and be able to deduct the gift in 2011, timing is critical.
The requirements for making a year-end charitable gift by check or credit card effective for the current calendar year are relatively simple. A gift by check will be effective for 2011, if you sign the check and place it in the mail or deliver it to the charity by Dec. 31. As long as the check is paid in ordinary course, the gift is effective as of the date of mailing or delivery even if not actually cashed until the following January.
Similarly with a credit card, the gift is effective when the charge is made on the card owner’s account. Because credit card charges are normally created immediately by electronic debit, it should be possible to make a gift by credit card as late as Dec. 31. Credit card charges at year-end are deductible even though you will not receive the bill and make the payment until the following year.
In many cases it is also possible to make gifts of stock late in the year. The best option if you hold stocks in a brokerage account is to have the charity create an account with the same brokerage firm. In that case, the transfer can be made immediately from your account to the charity’s account. If you hold stock certificates, it is possible to endorse the certificates and deliver them to a local charity in person. If the charity is not local, you can send the stock certificates in one envelope and a form called a “stock power†in a separate envelope. As long as both envelopes are postmarked before the end of the year, the gift will be effective.
It is also possible to transfer real estate to charity late in the year, but in most cases you will need to allow sufficient time for an attorney to draft the deed and for the charity to complete its acceptance process. Once signed and notarized, the deed can be delivered to the charity prior to the end of the year to make the gift effective.
If your gift will be in the form of a charitable gift annuity or charitable trust instead of an outright gift, you will need to allow more time for the appropriate documents to be drafted. It may be possible to implement a charitable gift annuity during the last week of December, but a charitable trust would almost certainly need to be started before Christmas.
If you want to make a charitable gift, but have not yet decided on a charity, consider a gift to a donor advised fund. This allows you to receive the deduction for 2011, but select your charitable recipient in 2012.
Amy Lewis is an attorney with Eisenhower, Carlson, PLLC, in Tacoma. She specializes in charitable gift planning, estate and tax planning. Please consult a qualified estate planner before making a charitable gift.
The old Steilacoom two-story jail was built in 1858 and served as a jail until 1881. The jail was demolished in 1944. Photo courtesy of Tacoma Public Library Photography Archive.
One morning in May 1877, just as dawn broke, Tacoma residents woke to gunfire shots coming from the Palace Saloon. A dispute had arisen between proprietor C.J. Longpray and two gamblers from Portland.
Apparently, during a card game, one of the “professors,†as cardsharps were called back then, casually displayed a small pistol and Mr. Longpray, who was known for his bad disposition, got hot under the collar. The Tacoma Herald called Longpray “a wicked and dangerous man when in a passion, and one who created havoc among his enemies.â€
He certainly proved the comment. Longpray pulled out his own revolver and hit the man over the head. Between them, the gamblers got off three shots but Longpray got off six, emptied his gun, and reached for a loaded shotgun he had near his chair.
A fight broke out and the gamblers left as quickly as they could. Longpray came out unscathed but not the two Portland men. One just showed the normal signs of having been in a fight, but the other in addition to a bad head wound, had a serious gunshot between his knee and thigh, and the rest of him was bruised and battered. The billiards table and woodwork also sustained damages.
Someone, the Herald didn’t say who, closed the Palace Saloon and, within days, Longpray was back in the news fighting over ownership of the various articles inside, which belonged to either him or to some Portland liquor dealers.
For a time, Longpray was seen around town brandishing multiple revolvers. He made a quick trip to Seattle saying he’d be back and, during his time away, the saloon was padlocked. Both parties said they would abide by arbitrators’ decision, but when it turned out not to be in his favor, Longpray took possession by climbing in a window.
He was in the papers a third time for two reasons: for taking a shot at a man named George Day, and for breaking into the place where his saloon furnishings were stored. Last seen, he was leaving town.
Tacoma was a rough frontier town in 1877, one where men often shot before thinking. At the same time Mr. Longpray was leaving, a crowd of black men woke the sheriff one morning and told him that a friend of theirs, a banjo player named Negro Bob, had just been murdered.
Several weeks prior, Bob got in a fight with a Kanaka (a South Seas islander) named Joe, and had struck Joe over the head with a hatchet. Joe was a friend of another Kanaka, a man named William Drew, and Drew developed a grudge against Bob.
The Herald said that Drew “was laboring under considerable excitement,†and decided that Bob should be severely punished. With that thought in mind, he grabbed a Henry lever action-repeating rifle and set out to shoot the banjo player.
Bob got wind of Drew’s intention but not in time to take any action himself other than shutting the door to his cabin. Drew took a position outside the cabin, made a guess where Bob would be standing and shot through the wall. Though an inch thick, the bullet not only penetrated the wood, it penetrated Bob, going through his stomach and lodging itself in Bob’s backbone. Bob fell to the floor, raised his eyes and said, “You see the last of Bob,†and died.
Bob’s friends went after Drew and tied him up, using, the paper said, about “200 feet of rope.†Sheriff Reynolds caught up with the mob, untied Drew and hauled him up before Justice Carr. The culprit was sent to await trial jail in Steilacoom’s jail.
Other Kanakas in the area, though friends of William Drew, all chipped in to pay for a respectable coffin for Bob.
Tacomans knew where Drew was, but not the men who robbed both Chilberg Brothers and Gross Brothers stores. Tacoma was pretty much confined to an area north of 9th street on Pacific Avenue. Gross Bros. was at 906-908 Pacific Avenue, so Chilberg’s must have been nearby. The burglars broke through Chilberg’s back door, smashing everything that got in their way. They made off with $40 worth of revolvers, jack knives, and tobacco. At Gross’s they outfitted themselves in new suits, and took extra hats, shirts, and overcoats. They were reported as being holed up somewhere between Tacoma and Kalama. Their snappy attire should have been a dead giveaway but they managed to escape.
A man named Henderson decided to rob Father P.F. Hylebos. According to Joseph A. Jacobs, Henderson persuaded him to go along on an expedition to dig up some money buried in the mountains by an old miner. When they got near Napavine, Henderson told Jacobs that the actual plan was to rob the Catholic priest at his house on the Cowlitz prairie where $1,500 was hidden.
Jacobs said that when he refused to go along with the plan, Henderson drew his pistol and attempted to shoot him. In defending himself, Jacobs shot Henderson in the head and wrist. Whether Henderson survived or not isn’t known, but the marshal caught Jacobs, and Father Hylebos gave the lawman an English bulldog to say thank you for making the arrest.
It does seem as if John Ford could have skipped Monument Valley and made a western or two in Tacoma.
Happy New Year. Welcome to a new year filled with new adventures for all of us. It might just be your mind wandering away in a good book or your body joining us on a more active adventure. Not that “active†is a very strong word for any of us. The joy of our adventures is that they are geared to a slower level of activity.
As with most years we do not do a lot of things during the winter months. Those are for us to stay indoors to be safe and warm. Occasionally we wander out but for the most part the roads are slick, the wind is blowing and our winter coats are too heavy for our bodies to hold up.
We do start the year off with a trip in January that you have been reading about. A small group has taken up the offer of going to Panama without going on a long cruise. They will depart on Feb. 23 for this wonderful adventure showing them Panama in much greater depth. A stay in Panama City; out into the rainforest; a full day cruise to the locks; and ending with a beach resort.
Those of us who really want to get out of the cold and start our warm weather a little early are leaving on March 11 for two weeks on Oahu, the north shore of the island. We have rented houses and truly plan on relaxing and staying warm. We will take short adventures to the Arizona Memorial; the surfing beaches, the new Disney resort, Turtle Bay and the local hangouts. It won’t be hard for us to fit in with the general public and “chillâ€.
Two cruises are available in April: the first goes out of Ft. Lauderdale on April 1 for seven days with Princess to St. Maarten, St. Thomas, Grand Turk and Princess Cay. The second cruise (this one with Celebrity) departs Ft. Lauderdale on April 25 and goes through the Panama Canal ending 16 days later in Seattle.
In the spring, plans are being made to travel to Ashland for Romeo and Juliet as well as The Very Merry Maids of Windsor. A trip to Victoria is scheduled for late April; August will find us in Leavenworth for 2 nights and 3 plays; an overnight at Crystal Mountain is in the works; Dinner Dates and Mystery Trips start up again in April and will run throughout the summer and into the fall.
Why not think about joining us as we go about being “activeâ€. Come along for the ride. Get on the email list for periodic updates (linda.finch@gmail.com) or call to be put on the snail mail list (253) 927-8207. The calendar should be ready shortly with more dates and further information.
